Social media. It's been around long enough now that most of us know that it's more than just a way to keep in touch with old friends and distant family. At a base level, it is useful and actually lots of fun for those purposes, but social media also gives people a peek into who you are and what your life is like and a lot is left up to interpretation. While that may not be such a big deal when it's your old middle school bestie making the judgments, it's a different case altogether when it's a professional contact or hiring manager.
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Whether you're partial to Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, or even just use sites like Twitter and LinkedIn for professional purposes, what you share on social media—both about your personal life and about what's going on in the world—can speak volumes about you and send out all sorts of vibes—both positive and negative—to anyone looking.
Your social media posts can reveal insights about your personality, your political leanings, how you spend your free time, your opinions on all manner of topics, what your priorities are, how you feel about yourself, and even where you physically are at any given moment. If you're not careful, you may even reveal some things you're not to keen on others knowing. Click through the gallery to see some things you may be revealing via social media.
You may be insecure.
Do you filter all of your selfies to death? Sure, filters are fun, but every single one of your selfies is overly filtered to where you are barely recognizable, people may assume that you are insecure about your appearance.
It's not just filters though...
Similarly, if you appear with a full face of makeup complete with perfect contouring and glimmering highlight in every single posts, you may also come off as either 1) being insecure or 2) not being real. Even worse, your followers may think you are way too caught up with appearances.
You're totally vain.
Do you post a selfie for every occasion? If your social media accounts are full of nothing but selfies that chronicle everything you do each day and very little if anything about your friends, family, hobbies, etc. you're probably coming off as super vain and self-centered.
You're desperate for attention.
If you're one of those women that's always striking sexy, half-nude poses or snapping that certain pose during your workouts, most people probably think you're seeking attention.
You value family over everything.
If you mostly post about your kids and their every milestone and cute moment, you are signaling that your family is your main priority. You probably wouldn't even be on social media if you didn't have a cute kid to show off to everyone.
You love a good debate.
Do you love shooting off your opinions in tweets throughout the day and maybe even when news breaks in the middle of the night? If so, you're letting people know that not only do you keep up with what's going on in the world, but that have strong opinions about all of it and you won't shy away from a healthy debate.
You reveal how much you care.
Are your comments and captions well thought out or do you comment without much thought? Do you use proper grammar and check your typing for errors or do you hit "send" without a second glance? Your commenting style can reveal how much you actually care about not only what you're weighing in on, but about social media as a whole and how you are perceived by others.
We can tell what your motives are, but you may not realize it.
Do you post on social media with the goal of connecting to and inspiring others or are you just trying to show off your fabulous life? Most of your followers get a certain impression about your social media motives based on how and what you post.
Who your real friends are.
Who in your life pops up on your social media posts the most? Anyone who follows you can probably deduce who your real friends are and who you choose to invest the most time in. In most cases, it's not a big deal, but if you don't have tight privacy settings, you might want to reconsider how much you share about your friends and family.
Your location may be on display.
On most devices and social media platforms "location sharing" is enabled by default, so you may be unknowingly broadcasting your whereabouts. And of course, if you post about a place you're visiting or something you're doing real-time—even if you've disabled "location sharing"—someone could track you down pretty easily.
It's not just about shutting off location sharing.
What and when you share on social media can give your followers some insight into your daily rhythms. Even if you have location sharing turned off and don't ever "check in" anywhere, you could be putting yourself at risk. Predators can follow your account and potentially figure our when you're typically home and when you're not, and of course when you'll be away from home for extended periods of time. Don't become too predictable.
Are you in it for the drama?
If you rarely post anything yourself, vague-post, or use your social media platforms primarily to comment on other people's lives, it may seem like you're just in it for the gossip and drama. Social media should be more of a give-and-take thing, just like real-life relationships otherwise your presence could suck all of the life out of each interaction.
You keep it real.
If you're the type to share both the good and the bad, the pleasant and the awkward, rather than just picture-perfect shots and snaps, your followers probably know you're not a poser. Sure we all love perfectly curated photos of exotic vacations, but we also like to know about that time you tripped on the sidewalk, broke your heel and had to walk the rest of the way to work like that. If you don't balance both, you might come off as fake.
You have no filter.
It's all fun and games to joke about not having a "filter," but in reality it's a sign of under-developed social skills. On social media when your posts aren't just reaching close friends and family, but people who barely know you as well, posting the first thing that comes to your mind could become a problem, leading other people to believe that you lack essential social skills both online and in real life.
Don't you have anything better to do?
Even if you do have your phone at your fingertips all the time and are constantly scrolling or swiping through your social media feeds, if you engage too often, you might be sending the message that you don't have anything better to do or that you're shirking other responsibilities like work or taking care of your kids. Pare it down to a few times a day so you don't get caught slipping.
Politics are everywhere.
These days Facebook and Twitter aren't just social platforms, they are political platforms as well. Even if you yourself don't share anything political, the posts that you like and comment on and accounts that you follow can reveal your political leanings to your followers as well as people you don't even know.
Girl can eat.
Food photos. We know them, we love them, we drool over them. If you share pics of your food all the time girl, you might get branded as a "foodie" and all your followers will know just how much food you can put away.
It's all fun and games.
Are you the queen of GIFs and memes? If so, your followers probably know that you mostly use social media for fun. You like to be entertained and don't take yourself (or social media) too seriously.
We probably know your relationship status.
Even if you choose to leave the "relationship status" section on your profile blank, after a while your followers can probably tell whether you're married, single, or anything on the spectrum in between. Who and what you post about and who you interact with on social media, can say a lot about your relationship status without you actually saying much at all.
On a serious note...
What you post and how you interact with others on social media can actually say a lot about the state of your mental health. Everything from your captions and facial expressions to the setting and filters used on your photos can clue people into your mood, especially when your posts are consistently on the negative or sad side. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though—picking up on these cues may prompt someone to reach out when you're in need.
